VATICAN CITY — In the final days of the most significant Catholic gathering since the 1960s, one issue more than any other is driving dissent and disappointment: the shunting aside of calls to ordain women in the world’s largest Christian faith. Advocates argue that expanding the role of women is a matter of not only…
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Expectations for the Synod on Synodality “are low”, according to the lay reform group We Are Church International. Speakers at a briefing organised by the group called for “strong proposals” for the full equality of women and allowing local churches the freedom to reform. […] […]Another of the six speakers from six continents calling for reform was Kate…
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VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Almost 40 women from all over the world marched through the streets of Rome on Friday (Oct. 4) and, under the watchful gaze of police officers and the curious peeks of tourists, demanded the Catholic Church allow the ordination of women. Their protests were timed to the start of a monthlong…
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A SENIOR Vatican official has ruled out the ordination of female deacons, as participants gathered in Rome for a new round of the Synod on Synodality. “We know the public position of the Pope, who does not consider this question mature,” the Prefect of the Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, said. “There…
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For Immediate Release: Oct. 3, 2024 During the October 2 opening session of Pope Francis’ month-long Synod on Synodality—anticipated to take up important issues facing the church today—the Vatican preemptively and blatantly undermined their own process by dismissing the call for women deacons as not yet “mature” with “no room for a positive decision.” The equivocation took…
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Pope Francis kicked off the next phase of a closely watched Vatican reform synod on Wednesday by urging delegates to focus on unity and avoid pushing personal agendas so “each person feels welcomed,” but advocates for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church say they feel anything but welcomed. Female Catholic priest Angela Meyer and Kate McElwee have traveled to Rome expressly to demand…
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Demonstrators in Rome demand women be allowed to be ordained as Catholic priests — watch the video here.
Last year in September, it seemed to many US Catholics that the church might be on the precipice of profound transformation. The Synod of Bishops was about to meet at the Vatican to discuss the results of a multiyear global listening effort. Termed synodality, the process gathered input from laypeople and clergy to promote dialogue…
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Regardless of what happens this month at the Vatican when it comes to women’s ministries, Catholic women in Latin America will continue serving the poor and also want to maintain dialogue on the issue, said a U.S.-based theologian who hails from Latin America. … …U.S.-based groups, too, are out in full force in Rome, but…
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